Memorial Day is a little over 2 weeks away and everyone is scurrying around wanting to look their best for the beach! I don’t encourage “fast” weight loss because it’s not sustainable. The goal is to lose weight slowly over time to ensure you’ll keep it off longer. With 2 weeks away you may not drop 3 sizes liked you hoped, but incorporating these healthy tips will be what you need to get you feeling better and even shedding a few lbs before July 4th!

Go on a Fast!

Ayurvedic tradition has been encouraging this for ages. In fact, if I feel like a cold is coming on, I’ll do this to help prevent getting sick. A good fast is approximately 16 hours, but even a 12 hour fast is sufficient for our busy lives. That means eating your last meal at 8pm and not eating again til 8am and later! Studies actually show that intermittent fasting of 16 hours 2 times a week actually decreased overall cancer risk as well (1)! It’s a good way to listen to your body and pay attention to what it actually needs.

Eat Fat to lose Fat

By now you have heard, your body needs fat to lose weight (2). A lot of my patients will go on really low carb, high protein diet which works until they start stalling. I often encourage them to add healthy fats like avocados, walnuts, chia seeds, coconut and olive oil to start revving up their metabolism and keeping them fuller longer. The inches drop drastically! Now, you have to be mindful increasing fat does add calories but swapping out healthy fats for carbs is definitely a win when it comes to weight loss. You can also look into ketogenic and paleo diet which do these well if you need more structure. However, in the long run, it may be hard to keep up.

Let there be green

My personal goal since the beginning of the year is to incorporate more veggies into my diet. I used to juice all the time, but being a busy wife and physician and new dog mom it leaves me little time for juicing. However, I still get my greens at every meal even if it means purchasing a pre-made organic green juice or adding kale and spinach to my omelet. Try juicing at home and swapping out breakfast for this in the morning; make sure you have a salad for lunch and grilled chicken with veggies for diner. Switching your favorite pasta with zucchini or cauliflower is also a creative way to get more veggies in your diet. My favorite go-to snack lately is broccoli and hummus to make sure I’m snacking on veggies through out the day. There are so many ways to sneak greens in at every meal. We do not eat enough veggies; in fact; we should be eating 6-9 servings of veggies and fruits/day! So make a conscious effort to get your greens on.

Give HIIT a try

A new study recently published showed that 10 minutes of exercise including 1 min of high intensity exercise is equivalent to 45 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise (3). This helps speed up your metabolism as well as helping you burn more fat! There are numerous fitness studios that cater to this type of training with maximal results. For more information, check out the American College of Sports Medicine brochure on HIIT.

References:

1.Rainer J. Klement, Colin E. Champ. Calories, carbohydrates, and cancer therapy with radiation: exploiting the five R’s through dietary manipulation. Cancer and Metastasis Reviews. March 2014, Volume 33, Issue 1, pp 217-229

2.CLENARD I. LESSER, MD, MSHS, MARY CAROL MAZZA, PhD, AM, SEAN C. LUCAN, MD, Nutrition Myths and Health Dietary Advice in Clinical Practice. Am Fam Physician. 2015 May 1;91(9):634-638.

3.Jenna B. Gillen et al, Twelve Weeks of Sprint Interval Training Improves Indices of Cardiometabolic Health Similar to Traditional Endurance Training despite a Five-Fold Lower Exercise Volume and Time Commitment. PLOS ONE. Published: April 26, 2016